Friday, December 30, 2016

Conor
O'Malley (Lewis
MacDougall) is understandably miserable. First of all, the 12
year-old divorced mom (Felicity Jones) is terminally ill. Second,
they're both estranged from his father (Toby Kebbell) who has long
since started another family over in America.

Third,
Conor is tired of being mistreated by his cold-hearted grandmother
(Sigourney Weaver) who cares more about her prized possessions than
his welfare. And finally, he's routinely teased at school by a bully
(James Melville) about always being off in his own dream world.

So,
it's no surprise when Conor starts being plagued by nightmares on a
daily basis. A few minutes after midnight, the giant yew tree (Liam
Neeson) standing in the graveyard outside his bedroom window turns
into an intimidating, anthropomorphic monster.

Despite
its imposing presence, the beast gradually gains the kid's
confidence, agreeing to tell a trio of insightful allegories on the
condition that Conor reciprocate with one of his own. The idea,
ostensibly, is that there will be a meaningful lesson to be learned
from each of the parables.

That
is the point of departure of A Monster Calls, a bittersweet
escapist fantasy directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible). The movie
is based on the illustrated children's novel of the same name by
Patrick Ness who also adapted it to the big screen. Ness'
award-winning book was inspired by the late Siobhan Dowd, who passed
away before she could tackle the semi-autobiographical project
herself.

The
film is less a feel-good flick than a picture about making the best
of a bad situation. For, the monster's stories paint a sobering
picture of life that's anything but rosy. However, they do ultimately
enable Conor to own up about his deepest fear, when it's his turn to
share.

Given
the mature themes and the dire plot developments, it's hard to
recommend A Monster Calls for vulnerable youngsters. Nevertheless, it
is unique in its approach to preparing a tweener to processing an
impending tragedy.

A
visually-enchanting, if fateful, fairy tale.

Very Good (3
stars)Rated PG-13
for mature themes and scary imagesRunning
time: 108 minutesDistributor: Focus Features

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Underworld: Blood Wars (R for
sexuality and graphic violence) Kate Beckinsale reprises her lead
role in this fifth installment of the goth horror franchise which
finds the heroine hybrid attempting to end the eternal war between
werewolves and vampires. With Theo James, Tobias Menzies and Lara
Pulver.

The
Ardennes (Unrated) Reconciliation drama revolving around a repentant
robber's (Jeroen Perceval) helping his recently-paroled brother
(Kevin Janssens) readjust to society after serving time for a brutal
home invasion they'd both committed. With Veerle Baetens, Jan Bijvoet
and Viviane de Muynck. (In Flemish, French and Dutch with subtitles)

Arsenal
(R for graphic violence, pervasive profanity and drug use) Crime
thriller about a successful businessman (Adrian Grenier) who enlists
the assistance of a private detective (John Cusack) after his mobster
brother (Johnathon Schaech) is held for ransom by a ruthless crime
boss (Nicolas Cage). Cast includes Lydia Hull, Heather Johansen and
Christopher Coppola.

Banking
on Bitcoin (Unrated) Financial documentary examining the disruptive
effect that the alternative currency Bitcoin has had on the
mainstream economy. Featuring commentary by Wences Casares,
Nathaniel Popper and Senator Rand Paul.

Between
Us (Unrated) Romantic comedy chronicling an eventful day-in-the-life
of a couple in crisis (Ben Feldman and Olivia Thirlby) dealing with
their fear of commitment as well as social pressure to tie the knot.
With Adam Goldberg, Analeigh Tipton, Lesley Ann Warren, Peter
Bogdanovich and Scott Haze.

Master
(Unrated) Action thriller revolving around the white-collar crime
detective (Dong-won Gang) leading the investigation of a multi-level
marketing company suspected of perpetrating a massive fraud all
across Korea. Supporting cast includes Woo-bin Kim, Byung-hun Lee,
Dal-su Oh and Ji-won Uhm. (In Korean with subtitles)

Railroad
Tigers (Unrated) Jackie Chan stars in this action comedy, set in
occupied China during World War II, as the leader of a ragtag team of
freedom fighters who ambush a Japanese military train for some
desperately needed provisions. With Jaycee Chan (Jackie's son), Zitao
Huang and Kai Wang. (In Chinese with subtitles)

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Citizenfour
won the 2016 Academy Award in the Best Documentary category. But
given how the movie made less than $4 million worldwide, one might
reasonably conclude that the details of Edward
Snowden's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) dump of National
Security Agency documents remains substantially unknown.

This
is ostensibly the thinking of three-time Oscar-winner Oliver Stone
(for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July) in turning the story
into a cloak-and-dagger drama about the NSA
whistleblower-turned-fugitive's leak of classified information before
going into hiding from the U.S. government. The movie unfolds in June
of 2013 in the Hong Kong hotel room where

We
learn that following four days of interviews, Greenwald published his
first story in the British daily newspaper, The Guardian. The
Pulitzer Prize-winning series related in stunning detail the extent
of NSA surveillance of American citizens in direct contradiction of a
recent denial uttered under oath to Congress by James Clapper, the
nation's Director of National Intelligence.

Because
the articles identified Snowden as the source of the information, he
immediately became the subject of an intense international manhunt.
He somehow managed to slip through the dragnet and boarded a
commercial airliner bound for Moscow, despite the fact that his
passport had been revoked and the U.S. had requested his extradition
from Hong Kong.

Upon
landing in Russia, Edward was awarded temporary asylum and he has
languished there ever since. Lucky for him, this movie has revived
interest
in his case, inspiring him to recently make a public appeal for
clemency.

But
a presidential pardon is unlikely to be forthcoming, even though
President Obama considered the apprehension of the "29 year
old-hacker" a very low priority back in June of '13. So today,
Snowden remains a fugitive from justice charged in absentia with
theft, espionage and conversion of government property.

Via
a variety of empathetic flashbacks, we are informed by the film that
Edward was a high school dropout who suffers from epilepsy. He also
enjoys a very loving, enduring relationship with Lindsay Mills
(Shailene Woodley), the loyal girlfriend who followed him from
Virginia to Hawaii to Moscow. More importantly, the movie establishes
Edward as so patriotic he was willing to jeopardize his future to
sound the alarm about the surreptitious NSA's widespread violations
of our Constitutional rights.

Congrats
to Oliver Stone for crafting a reverential biopic which convincingly
repositions a supposed traitor as an altruistic hero of the highest
order.

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The Sly Fox Film Reviews

KamWilliams.com

The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.